The Alien franchise came back in blood-soaked fashion last month with Fede Álvarez’s Alien: Romulus. The film is still killing it in theaters, but horror fans won’t have to wait that long for the next scream-worthy installment. FX’s Alien: Earth from creator Noah Hawley (Legion) is a prequel series coming to Hulu in 2025. The first brief teaser was shown before Romulus in theaters, which hinted at the return of the franchise’s signature monster. However, now it’s been confirmed by Hawley that the Xenomorphs will be coming to Earth.
While chatting with Deadline on the Emmys red carpet this past weekend, Hawley let it be known that there will be at least one Xenomorph in Alien: Earth. “There’s something about seeing a Xenomorph in the wilds of Earth with your own eyes that is truly chilling… to think of it moving here among us. And so I can’t tell you under what circumstances you’ll see that, but you’ll see it — and you’re going to lock your door that night.” He would continue by teasing the updated design of the classic alien, “What was really fun for me was to really engage with the creature, bring some of my own thoughts to its design while not touching the silhouette, because that’s sacrosanct.” Hawley would finish by saying. “But some of the elements as we know, whatever the host is, informs what the final creature is. I just wanted to play around a little bit to make it as scary as I thought it could be.”
What’s ‘Alien: Earth’ About?
Taking place about roughly 70 years in the future, this is the first story in the franchise’s canon to take place fully on Earth. Fans have been there in films like Prometheus and Alien: Resurrection, but only in brief moments. The story kicks off “when a mysterious space vessel crash-lands on Earth, a young woman and a ragtag group of tactical soldiers make a fateful discovery that puts them face-to-face with the planet’s greatest threat.” In the context of the series, this takes place 30 years before the events of Alien and 50 years before the events of Romulus. Where it falls in the timeline led fans to speculate that the Xenomorphs would be sitting this nightmare out, as Ellen Ripley was the first recorded human to come into contact with the deadly species. However, it looks like the Weyland-Yutani Corporation is up to their old shady tricks. Alongside the Xenomorphs, Earth will act as a sort of origin story depicting the rise of Weyland-Yutani as they’re in the middle of an Android arms race. Sydney Chandler will lead the series playing Wendy, “a hybrid, a meta-human who has the brain and consciousness of a child but the body of an adult.” Other cast members for the series include Babou Ceesay, Jonathan Ajayi, Erana James, Lily Newmark, Sandra Yi Sencindiver, Timothy Olyphant and Essie Davis.
When Does ‘Alien: Earth’ Release?
Alien: Earth doesn’t have an exact release date yet, but it will debut on Hulu in 2025. The series has big shoes to fill, as Romulus was a great scary return to form for the series, with some of the best practical Xenomorph thrills in decades. The short teaser for Earth can be viewed below.